


it's a contract

by froghurt



Series: stories [1]
Category: Code Geass
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, F/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 12:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16284413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froghurt/pseuds/froghurt
Summary: do you think the universe fights for souls to be together? some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.(-emery allen)





	it's a contract

Lelouch felt his stomach turn the moment he saw a girl emerge from what he was told had been holding poison gas. Next to him, he heard Suzaku let out an audible gasp of surprise. She closely resembled a picturesque porcelain doll, he decided, as he took in her smooth, pale skin and silky waves of emerald green hair. Her topaz eyes flickered in his direction and - just for a moment - held his own before quickly looking away. It was unusually hard for him to tell what exactly a girl like her was doing there and that left him feeling oddly out of place and far too confused for his comfort.

(A voice in the back of his head whispered that her eyes were like pools of deep, golden liquid, and - if he looked any longer - he could very well drown in them.)

Before he could think of how exactly to proceed forward, he felt a pull on the sleeve of his school uniform. Lelouch turned to see Suzaku looking at him with worried eyes. He wanted to help the girl, apparently... Lelouch supposed he did, too.

However, when Suzaku’s blood spilled across the floor and the sound of the gunshot seemed like it would forever ring in his ears, he gritted his teeth and wished they had never crossed paths with her.

... He hadn’t expected her to change his life that day. 

* * *

C.C. came upon his sister first. Kind voice, pretty hair... blind and crippled, just like C.C. remembered. It surprised her that she still went by Nunnally, though they had changed their last name to Lamperogue. Names were quite the nuisance, she had long discovered. To C.C., it simply seemed like an unnecessary sentiment, though she supposed she had lost any sense of sentiment centuries ago. They spent the rest of the evening quite contently folding paper cranes until, of course, Lelouch arrived and pulled her somewhere far, far away from his precious, beloved sister.

_How are you still alive?_

He hadn't said it out loud, but it was written all over his face. She only addressed it after he eventually left to put Nunnally to sleep.

 _Well, I certainly don’t want to be_ , C.C. mused, as usual and to no one in particular.

* * *

C.C. had taken a bullet for him again. Admittedly, not  _quite_  a literal bullet this time around, but he could have died all the same. Frustration bubbled inside of him. Lelouch had to repay her for the Geass at some point, of course, but he couldn't keep owing her like this forever. 

Lelouch could tell that there was more to their contract than she was letting on. If she was immortal, untouchable, ancient... what was it, then, that she wanted from him so badly? 

He recalled what she had said before.

_Lelouch, do you know why snow is white?_

_It’s because it’s forgotten the color it once was._

What an odd saying. What had struck him oddest of all, however, was the sheer loneliness that had been present in her eyes when she had said it. Her expression, usually stoic or unreadable, had been so... so sad. 

Suddenly, C.C. shifted in her sleep, jolting him out of his thoughts. She murmured something to herself and Lelouch hesitated only the slightest bit before placing the cusp of his ear against her lips. What happened next made a pleasant shiver run down his spine.

Then, a drop of water.

More murmuring. Her voice was soft, fragile.

A small, delicate smile dancing at the edge of her lips, for the very first time not a result of her usual sarcasm or snark. 

It dawned on Lelouch that he had never bothered taking into consideration this side of her before.

* * *

As of late, C.C. felt an ache in her heart every time she saw him. She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but she was sure it had happened before. The longer she spent in a contract, the more attuned her body became to her surroundings. She didn’t think she truly felt emotions anymore but, from time to time, there was an ache that formed in her chest regardless. This time, she mused, was probably no different.  _He_  was probably no different.

Perhaps... perhaps it was the stubbornness with which he pursued his impossible goal. Or, maybe, it was the alarmingly youthful touch to his voice. It could have even been the glaring contrast of hurt as it radiated from his soft, violet eyes. Whatever it was, it pulled at her, regardless of whether she wanted it to or not. She ignored it. She knew she had no other choice but to ignore it.

Soon enough, Marianne picked up on it and henceforth never let her hear the end of it.

C.C. decided then she would just ignore her, too.

* * *

It frustrated Lelouch that he could never bring himself to understand her or her peculiar nature. He hadn’t the moment they had met, and he couldn’t even now, even after having spent so much time with her by his side. She got on his nerves constantly and was overall an absolute nuisance - yet, it was easier with someone like her, someone who was willing to watch his back; he had always known he needed an accomplice with which to commit this otherwise impossible crime.

Perhaps that was why he went to find her, in the dead of the night.

Or, perhaps, it was a whisper of her true name that still rung in his ears, never failing to pique his interest. He supposed he still wanted to know why she had looked so hurt, so broken, that day back in the cave. It could have even been possible he liked that she was so unpredictable; it was certainly a nice change of pace.

Lelouch shook his head at the thought. It was the former, it had to be the former. He didn’t have the luxury to get attached to anyone else. An image of an orange-haired girl popped into his head, and Lelouch grimaced. There was too much at stake.

He knew he had lost too much as it was.

* * *

Lelouch wasn’t like Mao, C.C. was aware of that. Lelouch had a goal, a purpose. That’s why she had chosen him, of course. Still, there had been a plea in Lelouch's voice when he had called out her name that she hadn’t quite liked. It was far too familiar, far too  _real_ for comfort, likely because she had been down this road so, so many times before. 

It was probably why she was only the slightest bit surprised when Lelouch found her once more, carried her bloody, helpless body, and ordered Mao dead. He hadn’t met her eyes for a while, but she had felt his heartbeat clamoring against his chest; she reckoned that you wouldn't have been able to tell that he was nervous at all otherwise.

Once they were alone on the rooftop, she figured she should be honest with him. Tell him about Mao. About the consequences of... 

 _It’s a contract_ , he replied in indignation, his answer to her purposefully blunt question,  _this time, from me to you_.

A smile slowly spread across her face. Maybe... maybe they could get it right after all. She held out her hand to bind their contract once more.

There was only the slightest flutter in the pit of her stomach as his cold, nimble hand fully clasped her own.

* * *

Lelouch didn’t say anything as C.C. wrapped her arms around his neck. He couldn't; his head hurt, his body was weak, and he found it painfully hard to breathe.

He felt disgust roll around in his stomach as he remembered pink, pink, pink, until it slowly all bled into a suffocating red.

Euphemia... Euphy. Lelouch remembered the kindness that had radiated from her smile and the amount of hope that had been etched in her face when they had talked. She had always been like this: gracious, giving, loving. Now, all of it... now,  _she_  was gone.

He figured both Nunnally and Suzaku would probably hate him if they ever found out.

C.C. mentioned none of this, however, only held him gently in her arms. Perhaps he should have been surprised, weary, cautious... however, he didn't ( _couldn't_ ) think twice; he leaned into her warmth and let it overtake him. For a moment, he felt safe; from the world and from himself. 

_I promise I'll stay by your side till the very end._

In the back of his mind, Lelouch bitterly wondered if this was as close as he would ever get to feeling sane again.

* * *

Lelouch was initially taken aback when C.C. had kissed him, before the shock slowly wore off and he gently leaned in, both only momentarily forgetting the chaos that engulfed them completely.

Later, part of him had found it hard to believe that they had done  _that_ , then, of all times. Another part of him had wondered if there was more to it than she was truly letting on, as was always the case when it came to her. 

(He didn't fail to note, however, that her lips had been cold...  _and_  soft. Small yet full. Bitter _and_  sweet.)

Regardless of the reason, in that moment he felt a warmth he could only begin to describe; perhaps for the first time in a very long time, hope, alive and well, woke from its slumber, clawing its way through the misery embedded in the very cavity of his chest. He wagered that no matter what happened next, she would find him, protect him, see this through with him.

She probably understood by this point that he would do the same for her.

 _This_ , Lelouch mused, smiling as he bade the witch farewell, this was their _true_ contract.

* * *

C.C. pushed Jeremiah into the depths of the ocean and herself along with him. There was simply no other way to win this battle. She clenched her jaw in frustration. How many? How many times had she gone through such excruciating pain and nothing, not even death itself, could ease it?

She bitterly remembered that she had stopped counting many, many years ago.

An image of a boy with soft, violet eyes suddenly came before her.

She had thought it rather strange of him to have been so concerned.

_Don’t die._

He had barely even spent a year with her. To her, one year was meaningless.

_You’re not alone._

This year should have been meaningless.

_We are accomplices._

C.C. now felt the heavy weight of the ocean push against the Gawain. She could tell that the machine was going to combust, most probably sooner than later, and consequently her entire body with it, too. Her heart clenched in her chest and tears formed at the edge of her eyes. 

_If you’re a witch, then I will become a warlock._

Just this once - for  _his_ sake, at least - C.C. decided she would face the pain.


End file.
